Leading up to Halloween

We had fun getting ready for Halloween.  Here is a look at some of our activities leading up to Halloween night!

A family in our ward hosted an outdoor costume party.  Everyone brought soups and we ate outside on the grass.  It was fun to see the boys running around with other neighborhood kids.  I don't know who Charlie was playing with, due to masks, but he found kids dressed as super heroes and was with them the entire time.

Joey was happy wandering while eating treats.

 Yep, we all dressed up this year.

On Halloween day, Charlie had a special Halloween program at school.  They had a costume parade and sang their Halloween songs.  Charlie played it cool and sang along to some of them.  We got a good laugh out of the girl next to him who really got into all the songs!

We had a Halloween FHE and carved pumpkins.  The boys did not like the pumpkin guts one bit, but were so excited to have jack o laterns on the front porch!  Pumpkins with "happy faces" as Charlie would say.  The boys also got to knock on our front door and practice saying, "trick or treat" and I put candy in their buckets.  It was a pretty exciting night!

Halloween with little kids is the best.

Charlie at 4

Our Charlie boy is 4 years old. Here is a look at our 4 year old Charlie!

Charlie has a tender heart.  Each morning he likes to surprise me at the top of the stairs give me a "good morning hug."  He often asks us, "how is your day about?" or "how are you doing?" when there is a moment of quiet.

He loves preschool and is doing very well.  It's fun to see him learn new things and see get excited about it.  After school he likes to open his bag and show me what he did.  He is only talkative for a small window of time so it's important to give him your attention as soon as you pick him up.

It is fun seeing him be excited about having another brother.  I can't tell if he fully understands, but I think he does more than I realize.  (Oh that's one of his new phrases, "I didn't realize..." I love hearing him say new phrases)  He likes to talk to my stomach and try to feel the baby kick.  I can feel it, but it's still too early for Charlie to notice.  It will be very exciting once he can feel kicking!

Charlie's absolute favorite thing to have for lunch is a "meat & cheese with mayo sandwich."  He likes to help put slices of turkey and cheddar cheese on his bread.
He loves apple slices with peanut butter, fruit snacks, granola bars and german pancakes for breakfast.
I would say his favorite restaurant is Zupas.  He likes to order the "cheese soup" (Wisconsin Cauliflower soup) and dip his bread into it.  He also loves the chocolate dipped strawberries.
He likes to mix two different cereals together for breakfast.
He loves to help me make banana bread & cookies.
He likes to eat green beans, but only if you tell him, "don't you dare eat that" and he rushes to eat it as fast as he can.

Charlie is social and likes to play with friends.  He is very aware of things other kids say and do.  He often tells me funny little tidbits about each of his friends.

Charlie is a wonderful friend to Joey.  Joey often hurts Charlie's feelings because he screams or talks really loud.  Charlie is sensitive to anyone yelling or not speaking kindly.  We just moved Joey into Charlie's "big boy room" and the transition has gone perfectly.  Charlie has the natural ability to tell Joey what needs to be done in a kind, but directive way.  He is a great example and I'm so happy he is the oldest child in our family.

chatting under the dishwasher

Charlie & Joey like to chase each other around the kitchen & have movie parties.  Right now Charlie's very favorite show is Curious George and we watch it every day after lunch.

Charlie got to bring Brownie home from preschool. 

 He stayed with us for the weekend and it was a very big deal.

We love our Charlie!

Charlie's Super Hero Birthday Party

 One thing I love about our new neighborhood is that there are lots of boys Charlie's age.  I knew this year we had to have a boy party to have all of his new friends over.  Charlie loves super heroes so that's where we went with the theme!

We had 9 boys and 1 girl total.  And yes, it was as crazy and rowdy as that sounds!  All those boys!  When the kids arrived Tony took them downstairs for an obstacle course in the basement.  Superheroes are good at balancing, riding bikes fast and jumping around!  While everyone was doing that, I was upstairs taping streamers up the stairs and through the hallway.  The kids took turns crawling through the "laser beams." Everyone was convinced they had miraculously dodged their deaths.  It was really fun to watch!

Next it was pin the "S" on Superman!

 Joey was so proud to be one of the "big boys"

After the game it was a mad dash to the table for cake & ice cream!  

I love making Charlie's birthday cakes 

 Charlie picked out batman cups, napkins and plates for his party

 neighborhood friends

 

We opened presents at the table!  I didn't think about the amount of gifts he would get from having so many friends over.  Charlie got a ton of presents.  It was like Christmas morning!  Side note: After the party, Joey put a bunch of them in the toilet and flushed them down.  We saved them all except for one.  A plumber had to push that one through the pipes.  Not sure which one that was...good thing he had a bunch and hasn't noticed ;)

 

can you tell he's having fun?

After presents Tony and I opened up the mad house.  We had this great idea to fill the family room with balloons and let the kids go crazy.  It was fun, but it was CRAZY!!!  Luckily no one got hurt.  As I was pulling out the balloons I started to get a little nervous we would have some sort of accident!  Phew!

 daddy was the bad guy and dropped bombs (grey balloons) on all the kids

 attack!!!

 crazy faces!  This picture cracks me up every time I see it!

It was a really fun party!  Charlie is a great friend and I'm glad he has so many friends here!  It will be fun to see him grow up with these kids.

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY, CHARLIE BOY!

Charlie's 4th Birthday

Charlie is 4 years old!  I can't believe it.  He is growing up so much and way too fast.  Here's how we celebrated his birthday this year (excluding his party--that gets a post all for itself!)

We started birthday celebrations with a special family dinner at my parent's home.  Charlie and my sister Hailey are a day apart in birthdays so we had a combined birthday dinner.  Happy birthday to Hailey too!  We love you!

Charlie requested batman cupcakes from Nana

birthday morning

On his actual birthday, Charlie woke up to his room filled with balloons and a special doughnut for breakfast! He also got to go to preschool!  He brought a special birthday treat for his class and got to wear the birthday cowboy hat.  His sweet teacher even sent him home with a birthday gift.  He had fun celebrating his birthday at school!

coming home from preschool

After school we had lunch and opened presents.  Daddy had the day off since he had just come home from India a few days before.  Happy he could be home on Charlie's special day!

super cool new pajamas!

That night we went to Cornbelly's and spent 4 hours riding trains, sliding down slides, playing in corn, etc.  It was a kid heaven! We can't wait to go back next year!

 Can you turn an entire backyard into this?! Because that would be awesome!

 

 being buried in corn

Happy birthday Charlie!  

We love having you in our family!